Financial support is requested for the Xth International Symposium on Human Chlamydial Infection. Chlamydia trachomatis infections are the most common cause of sexually transmitted diseases often resulting in severe pathology in women and newborns. Of all notifiable diseases reported to the CDC, C. trachomatis is the most prevalent reported infection in the United States. It may also increase the risk of HIV infection. These organisms are also the cause of trachoma, the leading cause of preventable blindness in the world. C. pneumoniae is recognized as a very common respiratory pathogen and the recent association of C. pneumoniae with chronic respiratory diseases and coronary artery diseases significantly increases the need for understanding these infections. Characterization of the expanded clinical spectrum of chlamydial diseases has been facilitated by advances in molecular techniques for diagnosis. This has been complemented by exciting advances in elucidating the sophisticated interplay between chlamydial organisms and their obligate mammalian cells and the molecular mechanisms of immunity and pathogenesis. Additionally, the information inferred from the recent sequencing of the C. trachomatis and the C. pneumoniae genomes is rapidly providing new insights into fundamental chlamydial biology. This meeting represents the most important gathering for researchers in the field to exchange the highest quality research information and comparison of results among different countries. Given the recent explosion of research on chlamydiae, the Xth International Symposium on Human Chlamydial Infection to be held in June 2002 is timely as this meeting is traditionally held only every four years. It is thus propitious and can be expected to uniquely provide the impetus for setting the research agenda on the chlamydiae for the new millennium.